Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me back to the book of Matthew chapter 7. Matthew chapter 7. Going through the Sermon on the
Mount. And last Wednesday evening, I preached
previously verses 1 to 5. And then I dealt last evening
with verses 7 to 11. and realized I missed verse 6. And so, Lord willing, I'd like
to deal with verse 6 this morning. Obviously, it was the Lord's
will that I preach out of 7 to 11 last time, and verse 6 this
morning. Our Lord in Matthew 7 verse 6
says, Give not that which is holy, unto the dogs. Neither cast ye your pearls before
swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again,
and rend you. The Lord spoke to his disciples
in Mark chapter 16, verse 15. Here's what he said. Go ye into
all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. Now having heard that command
from the Lord, let me tell you what every God called preacher
holds dear to his heart. Preaching the gospel. We know that the Lord has a sheep. We know that He has a people. We know that He, by His Holy
Spirit, is going to call those sheep out of darkness through
the preaching of the Gospel. We know that. We don't know who the sheep are. Therefore, we assume that every
message that we preach of the Gospel the proclamation of that
which God Almighty has revealed in His Word concerning the salvation
of a people, marked out by that landmark. He's going to have
mercy and compassion toward. But when we preach the gospel,
we know this. Some are going to hear and believe,
and some won't. Now we know that. Some will hear,
and according to God's everlasting covenant of grace, they're gonna
hear that gospel to the eternal good of their soul, being regenerated
by the power of God's spirit. Some are gonna hear, and they're
not gonna believe, dead in heart. They're hearing in that day,
the day of judgment is going to be as a testimony against
them. That's what the Lord told Chorazin
and Bethsaida. Woe to you! You heard. You heard the gospel. And you didn't believe. He said
it's going to be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the
day of judgment than it is for you. Let me express something that
I just said. If you hear the gospel and you
don't believe it, in that day, that non-hearing is going to
rise up in judgment against you. Ministers of the gospel called
to this sacred office knowing that we cannot distinguish between
the sheep of God and the children of the devil. I can't, you can't
either. We preach the gospel to everybody.
We command all men to repent. We don't have the ability to
do it. If the Spirit of God is pleased to bless that word, He's
going to bless it. And so we preach. Some, as I did, hear the gospel. And with an unyielding spirit
to that truth, go on. Sometimes years. I've told you
before, the first time I heard the gospel, I thought that was
the most ridiculous message I ever heard in my life. How in the
world could God in heaven be so unfair and not give every
man a chance? Still in my mind, giving all
the glory to man. The Lord has declared this truth,
John 14, 15. If you love me, you keep my commandments. God's word is eternal. Heaven
and earth, Matthew 24, 35, shall pass away, but my words shall
not pass away. Now, the Lord has given us some
precious instruction in this sermon on the mount. concerning
the discretion of preaching the Gospel. He's given us some discretion
on preaching the Gospel. He had said in verse 1 of chapter
7, Judge not that you be not judged. Don't you judge the intent. He's told us to do that. Don't
you judge the intent or the motive of something that someone is
doing that's not specifically dealt with in Scripture. Don't
judge their motive. Don't judge them. Right here,
He's telling us, don't you give that which is holy. And now,
I'm going to tell you something. We've got something that's holy.
I'm dealing with, I'm hearing it, and you are too. Hold your
place right there. Turn to Romans chapter 1, verse
1 and 2. Romans 1, verse 1 and 2. a servant of Jesus Christ called
to be an apostle separated under the gospel of God which he had
promised to for by his prophets in the holy scriptures. We're dealing with something
this morning that is holy and it's the hearing of the gospel
out of the holy scriptures. Now the Lord Is set forth in
his holy scriptures That which we must heed He says this give
not that which is holy The holy scriptures give not
that which is holy Unto the dogs and neither cast your pearls." That word right there means proverbs. Neither cast your words of great
value, proverbs, the way that the Lord preached. Why do you
preach in proverbs? Why do you preach in parables?
Because it's given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom
of heaven. It's not given to them. Give that which is holy. And
we're commanded to go into all the world and preach the gospel.
Now he says, don't you give that which is holy unto dogs, and
neither cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them
under their feet. That is, treat with rudeness. And turn again and rend you. Now our Lord dealt with a situation in Matthew 15, 26
about a woman. We've looked at this many times.
I won't read the passage. I'll just read you some passages
from it. But the Lord placed a great significance
and difference between dogs in contrast to the elect. He said to that Syrophoenician
woman, he said, it's not meat to take the children's bread.
Now he's talking about an elect, the children. He's talking about
his children. He says, it's not fit to take
the children's bread and cast it to dogs. Now he was talking to a Syro-Phoenician
woman, a woman of Canaan, a Canaanite woman, in a cursed land out of
the coast of Tyre and Sidon, a cursed race, idolatrous people. But this woman, you know, knowing
the story, was a vessel of God's mercy. She came out of a cursed
people. The Lord was going to show her
mercy. And what He did, He had this woman that came to Him having
thought in her mind that she was coming into His presence
that she might seek mercy for her daughter. But in truth, the
Lord drew her there. The Lord drew this woman that
He might show mercy and compassion to her. So how often do we see
the trials and the tribulation of this life to be the very instances
of God's blessing to us. I thought to myself, surely after
that woman was called out of darkness, how precious this passage
of scripture would be to her. It's good for me that I've been
afflicted, that I might learn of thy statutes. How many times
have things come our way and we all of a sudden realize that
this thing that we thought was so horrible turned and was revealed
to be such a blessing. This woman was grieving and she
cried out unto the Lord for mercy. And he spoke a word that surely
would have caused anyone else that wasn't being kept by the
power of God through faith to leave. He said this when she
cried out, my daughter, my daughter's sick. And here's what he said,
I'm not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Now that was the truth, right?
That was absolutely the truth. He was sent only to the lost
sheep God's people, God's elect. He preached divine electing grace
to that woman. But that grace that drew her,
that grace and power that held her moved that woman to bow to
Him who rules in heaven and earth. It's not fit for me to take the
children's bread and cast it to dogs. That was the truth.
That was the absolute truth. But here was the amazing thing.
He was telling her the truth. It's not fit for me to cast the
children's bread to dogs. But she wasn't a dog. He was
just telling her the truth. It's not fit. But listen to what
she's saying. Truth, Lord. What you said is
the truth. What does every believer, when
they hear this, it's not fit that the bread of heaven should
be cast to dogs. What does every believer say?
Truth, Lord. Absolutely. Truth. Truth, Lord. But, she
said, the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's
table. Do you want to know the evidence of one that's not truly
a dog? they see themselves as being
one. Everyone. That's a believer's heart. Truth,
Lord. Yes, sir. I agree with you. That's my nature. Old wretched
man that I am. You remember when Goliath came
and he was gonna come before David? David came over. He didn't have armor. He had
a sling in his hand. The lion looked at him and said,
am I a dog? You think I'm a dog? That's the
heart of one that truly is. One that denies that he is. This woman needed to be taught
something about prayer. She needed Him. And even when
He truthfully proclaimed that He had not come, To give the
bread of the children to dogs, time proved this woman to be
one that truly wasn't a dog, that the Lord forbid to give
the bread to. This woman would not leave. She
bowed. One that's not a dog, that's
what they're brought to eventually. Before they leave this world,
She bowed, O woman, the Lord said, great is thy faith. Be
it unto thee, even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole
from that very day. But surely, according to the
word of the Lord, there comes a time when we're commanded back
in Matthew 7 verse 6. He said, give not, that is bestow
not and commit not, that which is holy. This glorious gospel
that we've been commanded to preach to all men. Don't give
it to dogs. Don't cast your pearls. Don't
cast the proverbs before swine. And this is where we need some
instruction. We need some wisdom. We need
some direction on this because I'm telling you, the Lord is
preaching that which is absolutely so. Ecclesiastes 3.1 says, To
everything there is a season. It's a time to every purpose
under the heaven. Ecclesiastes 3.7 says it's a
time to keep silence and a time to speak. Now concerning these dogs and
the swine, how are we to discern who they are? The Lord has commanded
us, you just don't Don't give that which is holy unto dogs. Don't cast your pearls before
swine. You think he's saying something
he didn't mean? No. He's saying exactly what
he meant. What he said was absolutely what
he commands. Philippians 3.2 tells us to beware
of dogs. Beware of dogs, beware of evil
workers, beware of the concision. Now what is the evidence of a
dog? When the Lord moved upon Paul
to write to the church at Philippi, beware of dogs, evil workers,
those of the concision. It's those that snarl at the
truth of the gospel. Those wanderers and contentious
and troublesome that bite with words of reproach and hatred
toward this truth. There are men and women that
hear the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and do what
a natural dog does. He returns to his vomit. Like a fool that returns, the
scripture says, to his folly. Spiritual dogs are those that
hear the truth. Now listen, I'm telling you,
Lord please keep me from this. They hear the truth, they resist it. And unless the
Lord does something for us, all men by nature are like this.
This is our nature. I'm telling you right now, this
is what we are. And unless the Lord does something for us in
regenerating grace, we're gonna cling to our own wicked works
of self-righteousness and we're gonna hate this gospel. We hate
the God of this Bible. They're false prophets. Now this
is a dog. This is those that snarl at,
that resist, that bite against the truth. Isaiah 56, verse 10
and 11. Isaiah 56, verse 10 and 11. His watchmen are blind. They're ignorant. They're all
dumb dogs. They cannot bark, sleeping, lying
down, loving to slumber. Yea, they are greedy dogs which
can never have enough. They're shepherds that cannot
understand. They all look to their own way.
everyone for his gain from his quarter. What is a dog? The scripture
declares them to be ignorant. Ignorant of the truth. Clinging
to their own way and not the way, the truth, and the life
himself. The Lord said in Revelation 22.15,
for without, without what? Without the camp. Without the
bride are dogs and sorcerers, whoremongers and murderers, idolaters,
and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. Dogs without. Outside of the
body. Listen to 1 John 2.19. Here's
what they'll do. They went out from us, they were
not of us, for had they been of us, they would no doubt have
continued with us, but they went out that they might be made manifest,
but they were not all of us. These dogs and swine are those
which have forsaken, the scripture says, 2 Peter 2.15, they've forsaken
the right way, and are gone astray following the way of Balaam,
the sons of Bosar, who love the wages of unrighteousness. Dogs
and swine unclean of those who forsake the right way, the gospel
of truth. And they leave it for the rewards
of their own unrighteousness and the greed of earthly mammon.
Blindly, they'll follow the way of death over life. Well, this is the hard It takes discernment
to know this. Because I'm going to be honest
with you, by the Lord's command, we preach the gospel to every
creature. We tell them the truth. And when
one comes to the point, and I don't know, I don't know, I don't know
who they are. And I don't want to be disrespectful
to the Lord's command, to preach the gospel to every creature,
and I don't want to be disobedient to the command to not cast my
pearls before swine, or don't give the children's bread to
dogs. So, when one is manifested, one that despises the gospel,
what do we do? Now here's a point every believer
comes to. And this is going to be an experience
that all of us have. I guarantee you, every one of
us has got people that we know in our families that don't know
the Lord. What do we do? Well, what did the Lord say to
do? This is my point. Turn to Matthew
15. Hold your place in Matthew 15,
7 to 14. Matthew 15. 7 to 14. Matthew 15, verse 7, you hypocrites,
well did Isaiah prophesy of you saying, this people draweth nigh
unto me with their mouth, and honoreth me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me. But in vain do they worship me,
teaching for doctrines, the commandments of men. And he called the multitude
and said unto them, hear and understand. Not that which goeth
into the mouth defileth a man, but that which cometh out of
the mouth, this defileth a man. Then came his disciples and said
unto him, knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended after
they heard this saying? But he answered and said, every
plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted
up. Now look at these next words.
Let them alone. They be blind leaders of the
blind, and if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into
the ditch. What does the Lord command us
to do When there is an open, blatant, forthright, I'll try
to use all of the descriptive words that I know how. What do
we do when someone makes it very clear, I'll not have that man that you're
preaching rule over me. I'm going to preach the gospel
to all men. I'm going to tell them the truth by the grace of
God. I want to. I want to. and I pray that God
bless it. I've got people in my family
that don't know God. There's been people that has
been here in this congregation and has left. What do you do? What do you do? Matthew 10.14 says, Whosoever
shall not receive you nor hear your words, When you depart out
of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. Verily
I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom
and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city. Paul the
Apostle, Acts 18. Acts 18. Verse 5 and 6. Acts 18, 5 and
6. When Silas and Timotheus were
come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in spirit, and testified
to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. Now listen to what the Spirit
of God moved upon Luke to pin in this book. Verse five again,
when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was
pressed, he was moved in his heart, and testified to the Jews
that Jesus was the Christ. What did he just say? He preached
the gospel to them. He told them the truth. He told them the truth.
In verse 6, and when they opposed themselves and blasphemed, he shook his raiment. He said
unto them, your blood be upon your own heads. I'm clean. From henceforth, I will go to
the Gentiles. They opposed themselves. What
does that mean? They contradicted themselves. They said, I don't believe what
you're saying. In closing then, what is the
motive? When someone opposes, I'm telling you, as long as someone
will hear what I'm saying, I'm going to tell you the truth.
I want to tell you the truth. I ask the question the scriptures
ask, why will you perish? Why will you perish? But if somebody
tells me, and I've had them tell me before, don't you talk to me about that
anymore. You understand me? I don't believe
what you're saying. Don't talk to me anymore. According
to these scriptures, do you know what I'm to do? Leave them alone. Leave them alone. Someone says,
yeah, but nothing. What are you going to do? Are
you going to give them a new heart? What are you going to do? What is the motive for our withholding
the children's bread to those that oppose themselves, that
blaspheme this truth? Now I'm not talking about just
ignoring. Preaching to somebody. I'm telling
you, I want to preach the gospel to every creature. I want to
tell you the truth. I want you to hear. You must
hear. If you don't believe this gospel,
you're going to perish. I will too. But if someone says,
I'm not going to hear that. I'm not going to hear it anymore.
I'm leaving. I'm leaving. What do you do? You obey God. That's what you
do. Our motive to give not that which
is holy unto dogs, those that have opposed the gospel and have
forsaken it and will not hear it, will not bow to it. Our motive
for obeying what the Lord says is our love to Him. His word
is true, not ours, not our thinking, not our fickle, no. If you love
me, you keep my commandments. Our motive is not to elevate
ourselves over others and take the word of God and try to use
it as a whip or try to use it as a tool or even tone it down. Our motive is obedience to the
Lord. Who knows best? Us or Him? Listen to what we've read before,
what happened when many of His disciples went back and walked
no more with Him. Many of them were following Him
in John chapter 6. And He said, no man can come
unto Me unless it were given unto him of My Father. And that
hard saying right there motivated them to walk no more with Him. What did He do? Did he apologize? He called him and said, just
hang on just a second. Let me say it again. Wait, maybe
you misunderstood me. Maybe you don't understand exactly
what I meant. What did he do? Compromise the
message? He turned to his twelve, and
he said, will you also go away? And you know that's when Peter
said, To whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. This is what a believer says. Though he slay me, I'm going
to trust him. His word is precious. It's not
going to return unto him void. We know that he's going to call
out his sheep. We know that. I thought about
that prodigal, that boy. came to his dad that day, give
me what's coming to me. Give me what's due, and I'm out
of here. Let me ask you this. How many
nights, sleepless nights, do you think that dad had? How many times do you think he
was tempted to find that boy and try to talk to him? See if
you talk him into coming. What happened? The scripture
says he came to himself. What a beautiful picture of a
vessel of God's mercy being wrought upon by the Spirit of God. God called him out. Salvation's
of the Lord. It's not of us. And we've got
loved ones. I've got them and you've got
them. And I do love them. I love, I love them. Like I said,
those in my family, I got grandchildren that I'd love to be, you know,
what do I do? I preach the truth to them. But
if they will not hear, I don't compromise, I can't compromise
with them. We don't give that which is holy
unto dogs, those that have stood and opposed. We don't cast our
pearls before swine. We don't take his gospel. and
compromise. His word, it's fire, it's a hammer. God's gonna do what God's pleased
to do. Scripture says, Proverbs 9, 18, Reprove not a scorner
lest he hate you. Rebuke a wise man and he'll love
you. Hebrews 10, 28, 29, He that despised
Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses.
of how much more sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall be he thought
worthy who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted
the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified to be an unholy
thing, and hath done despite under the Spirit of grace. Last
scripture right here. 2 Thessalonians 3 verses 1 to
5. Finally, brethren, pray for us
that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified
even as it is with you. And that we may be delivered
from unreasonable and wicked men, for all men have not faith,
but the Lord is faithful, who shall establish you and keep
you from evil. And we have confidence in the
Lord touching you that ye both do and will do the things which
we command you. And the Lord direct your hearts
into the love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ. We have something very precious. It's the Word of God. The Word of the Lord that has
been given and placed in earthen vessels. It's a precious thing,
a holy thing. And we preach the gospel to every
creature, and we pray that God bless it. That's what the Lord
taught his disciples. When you pray, you pray like
this. Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come. I pray that God bless it. I pray
that the Lord bless the Word. I pray that He call His people
out of darkness. I pray He does. But I know this,
only the Lord can. And He has instructed me, you,
concerning those that oppose themselves and blaspheme His
Word, will not hear it, will not come, they'll leave. I'm
going to go back to my vomit. And I'm not going to hear what
you have to say. What do you do? It's not left
up to me to decide. I can tell you what the Lord
said. Don't you give that which is holy unto dogs. You leave
them alone. You leave them alone. And if
God's pleased, He's going to do what He did to that boy, that
prodigal. He's going to cause him to come to himself. And it's
going to be proven that salvation was of the Lord. and I'm not
gonna get any glory for it. I go over there and I can try
to talk you into a, you know, some kind of a whatever, religious
experience. What good did I do you? The Lord
said you leave him alone. God's gonna save his people and
I'm gonna rest right there. I pray that the Lord bless this
truth to our hearts for Christ's sake.